Many of our mother's jewelry takes add-on charms to represent a new addition to your family. Or you can add them to your jewelry just o jazz it up! Some of our jewelry is designed to allow charms to slip in and out from one end of the chain for each add-on charm installation. If your jewelry has an easy slip-on chain, simply slip in the new charm, and you’re good to go. But we also use small attachment rings to attach mini charms to a larger charm. In this instance, you need to use attachment rings to attach new add-on charms to your jewelry. Below are good tutorials for how to open and close attachment rings correctly. Step-by-Step Photo and Text Tutorial...

Genetic tests like MaterniT21 and Counsyl can be quite expensive. If you got pregnant through IVF and have transferred a PGD/PGS tested embryo, you may wonder if you need to take another genetic test. I asked this question to my fertility doctor, maternal fetal medicine specialist, and OB. They all agreed that PGS/PGD and MaterniT21/Counsyl essentially test the same thing - genetic abnormalities - at different stages of pregnancy. Genetic information the embryo contained at the time of transfer does NOT change later in pregnancy. So, you do NOT need to take another genetic test later if you have taken a pre-implantation genetic test. However, it is important that you know what chromosomes your pre-implantation test examined, and post-implantation tests...

There are a number of ways to blacken hand-stamped letters. I will discuss several methods and their pros and cons, particularly in relation to health hazards, which is a concern for people with small children who may lick their jewelry. Some methods are safer than the other, but after all, you don't want your kids to lick any kind of ink. So, please keep jewelry out of your kids' reach! (1) Sharpie: Pro: probably the cheapest and simplest method. You can roughly draw over the lettering and wipe the charm with a Q-tip with alcohol (or nail-polish remover) to clean up the excess ink. If you have steady hands, precise drawing over the lettering will eliminate the need of cleaning. Con:...

One of the decisions that expecting moms need to make after 10 weeks is whether or not to take screening tests for genetic problems. Typically, people take a screening test like a NT scan and/or DNA tests like MaterniT21 and Counsyl before considering amniocentesis, which is a diagnostic test. A NT scan detects the possibility of Down syndrome at an accuracy rate of 70-80%, while DNA tests can detect the possibility of several genetic problems including Down syndrome, Edwards syndrome, Patau syndrome, and Sex chromosome abnormalities at an accuracy rate of 98%. So, which one to take? Given my advanced maternity age (44!), it was a no brainer. I skipped the NT test and proceeded with a DNA test. Now, another question. Several companies offer...